I was inspired by fellow blogger Joe from Spud to Stud and his post on Surviving Hunger. At the end of the post, Joe challenged us to share our strategies on fighting hunger. Here is my response to that challenge.
In my experience, it’s best to prevent hunger altogether. Once I start getting hungry, reason and rationality go out the window and eating well becomes extremely difficult. Here are my preventive measures:
1. Eating beans – I try to eat some kind of bean with every meal. Chickpeas on my salad at lunch and a side of black beans with dinner. I currently don’t eat beans with breakfast due to my “not allowed to cook in the morning” restriction, but this shall be resolved when I move out in about a month. If I were eating beans with breakfast though, they would be black beans in my eggs mixed with other veggies for a nice filling omelet. Why beans? I’m glad you asked. Beans are a slow carb. This means that they release sugar gradually as they digest as opposed to fast carbs that release it all at once.This keeps you full longer, keeps your blood sugar levels steady, and gives you a constant stream of energy throughout the day without the roller coaster effect of fast carbs that give you a lot of energy right away and with a crash afterwards. Your body needs some sort of sugar to keep your brain functioning properly so you may as well get it from slow carbs and keep yourself full and energized too.
2. Eating almonds – If I do start to get peckish, I go for almonds. You must be very careful to stick to the serving size though because nuts tend to be a domino food that cause you to eat quite a lot of calories in a short amount of time. Take your ounce of almonds, eat them slowly, enjoy them, then put them away. Walk away and distract yourself, soon enough your hunger will subside. Here’s an article that talks about a study that shows how almonds curb hunger.
3. Eat protein – I strive to eat protein at every meal. Here is an article that talks about how protein staves off hunger, I will forewarn you it is a bit science-oriented. Science is my forte (and my job), sue me. In layman’s terms it basically says that diets high in protein release a signal to the body that reduces how much food you eat by 1/3! As an extra bonus, since you’re probably trying to lose weight and are therefore exercising, eating more protein is essential to building muscle. More muscle = faster metabolism = weight loss! Voila!
4. Eat after workouts – After I workout is about the only time I get hungry. Of course that is because you are burning calories and your body needs fuel for that. A general rule my personal trainer told me is to eat about half the calories you just burned. You should also be building some muscle which is why I eat a protein bar for reasons stated in point 3. My hunger goes away and I help my body recover from the work I just put it through. Win win!
5. Drink water – I drink a ton of water. The general rule is to drink half your body weight in ounces. I drink a bit more than that even. Joe makes this point in his blog too. Although I don’t experience it because I keep myself hydrated, some people can actually confuse thirst for hunger, so if in doubt: drink some water. Wait a bit and if you still feel hunger than see steps 1-3.
6. Are you really still hungry? – If you’re doing all these things and you’re STILL hungry then guess what, you’re probably not eating enough. Most people who go on diets restrict their caloric intake too much and as a result their body goes into starvation mode which, of course, does the opposite of what you want and holds on to fat for dear life. Make sure you are getting a proper amount of calories to keep your body functioning. Find out what your BMR is and make that your daily caloric goal. Create a deficit with exercise. Be good to your body and it will be good to you. Beef up your meals with extra non-starchy vegetables too. The fiber will help fill you up and help keep your digestive tract running smoothly (which aids in weight loss).
7. Distract yourself by Fighting Hunger! – Last but not least check out Freerice.com you can literally fight hunger at this site while improving your vocabulary. Bonus! I did it on my phone earlier today on my lunch break for about ten minutes. I started to struggle at level 30, but in the end I donated 2100 grains of rice to people who are REALLY struggling with hunger! Of course that’s not very much, but every little bit helps! One new word I learned today: clandestine. Do you know what that means? Don’t cheat and google it!! Honest answers only!
How did you fight hunger today?
Hopefully Bikiniskinni 